A Lake Country teen has created a petition to try and save the FlowRider.

Jonathan Hintz, 17, is a flow-boarding champion who hones his skills on the H20 Adventure and Fitness Centresa国际传媒檚 flow-boarding machine.

The Grade 11 student at George Elliot Secondary School earned a bronze medal at the 2017 world flowboarding championships in Cancun, Mexico in November.

Last week, Kelowna city council decided to look into alternative options to use the space that houses B.C.sa国际传媒檚 only FlowRider, a machine that creates artificial waves which allow users to ride a board.

Hintz created a asking city council to keep the machine, which has allowed him to practice three or four times a week, he said.

sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檓 posting my own thoughts and opinions to say to the city, sa国际传媒榠t may not service multiple people at one time while theysa国际传媒檙e riding, but the people that show up repeatedly that fall in love with it, theysa国际传媒檙e constantly coming back to ride and they love it,sa国际传媒� he said.

But the machine has also been costly. A mechanical repair will cost $200,000, so city staff suggested looking at alternate options before deciding to repair it.

sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檙e at the point with the FlowRider that the mechanical system needs to be redone,sa国际传媒� said director Jim Gabriel, with the citysa国际传媒檚 active living and culture department.

Before replacing the expensive parts, Gabriel is asking sa国际传媒渁re there other uses that could be serving the broader facility as well?sa国际传媒�

Gabriel said the FlowRider has also been out of service for a number of months in 2016 and 2017 because parts have to come from overseas.

sa国际传媒淲e wanted a bit more time just to explore (different options,)sa国际传媒� he said. A training pool was suggested to assist with swimming lessons and Aquafit.

Ridership on the FlowRider is also one at a time, so sa国际传媒渉ow long are you going to wait in line before you get your turn?sa国际传媒�

Council voted to use up to $50,000 to research the costs of alternative options.

Hintz says with the petition, he wants the city to understand that people use and love the FlowRider. There are both locals and people outside of the city that use it, some who travel up to four hours to surf, he said.

sa国际传媒淲e care about this, itsa国际传媒檚 not just mesa国际传媒� we have multiple people that really care about it. It draws a lot more people in than the city would imagine.sa国际传媒�

To report a typo, email: edit@kelownacapnews.com.

carli.berry@kelownacapnews.com
Like us on and follow us on .